Thread: 60's Pool Renovation - Time for a Change

The day starts with a grind..... they had to cut over 200 bolts to remove an old metal flange. It held the old coping in place. Next our third design decision. Lights? Yes please! In go 2 LED's. One at each end. Time to put all the dirt back and rough prep the area. The white Styrofoam sitting on the top of the walls is a form designed to cantilever the pool deck over the edge. At the corner you can see the grey coping is placed under it and screwed in place. It will all be covered by the deck. They still have to attach it to the top of the steps. The plan now is to do the forming Monday and deck pour shortly after. Still liking the progress made in 3 days. These guys rock. At this rate we may be swimming again sometime next weekend.

After a quiet weekend they were back at it early this morning. Started with roughing out the concrete deck forms. Time to cut a nice straight line in the flagstone top step (don't you just love it when a jack hammer shows up). Then finish forming around the top of the steps. After that stake the forms in place and smooth out the area. We decided to keep the geometric angles going with the deck shape. I like it. Last they scrapped the old pool floor and removed all the small roots. Another big day for the crew.

Once again I greet the crew with morning coffee in hand. First action is out on the street. Bags of powder and water going into the hopper. Now to get it to the pool. Only one way. Good old wheel barrel and sweat. Anyone care to do a Newton's 2nd Law calc on this? In it goes and a new bottom starts to appear. Looks real nice and smooth. Next comes the stone (wheel barrels getting a workout all day long). Add the rebar and we're ready for the deck. Last item for the day connecting the ground straps to the hand rail anchors. Done for the day! I've been told to expect a crew at 6:30am tomorrow morning. Anyone guess what's coming??

Looking good!

Does your pool not have a return drain in the deep end?

Beauty, a deep end, they had a big pool up the street from me on Blantyre, was a great pool, then last summer they redid it and the entire pool is maybe 4' deep from end to end...used to be 10' in the deep end, now it's just a big wading pool.

Gotta have a deep end...you going to install a diving board?

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Looking good!

Does your pool not have a return drain in the deep end?

Great Question. Long discussion with the contractor. The pool had one in the deep end but didn't work. Totally plugged or collapsed. Do we hammer out part of the deep end, dig down around the old skimmer to find the issue and replace the complete system. Also the standard now is to install 2 return drains one at each end. Safety issue to avoid people (kids) getting stuck in a one drain system because of suction. Second drain balances suction and eliminates the issue. So add to the cost of installing both drains (hammering, digging) etc. They add a little extra water circulation but most stop functioning after a while. We have an extra return in the deep end and with a little brushing it's not really a problem. Easy decision at that point.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Beauty, a deep end, they had a big pool up the street from me on Blantyre, was a great pool, then last summer they redid it and the entire pool is maybe 4' deep from end to end...used to be 10' in the deep end, now it's just a big wading pool.

Gotta have a deep end...you going to install a diving board?

Another great question. We have a fantastic old spring board that was installed with this pool. With a good aggressive jump you could reach 8 to 10 feet vertical. I mean it was great. A problem because most pool contractors won't sell or install any boards because of lawsuit issues. A couple of big contractors in this area lost some serious dough so most won't even consider installing one even if the home owner wants one. Result is no board. Heavy sigh!

Looks like you're going to have an amazing backyard and pool. Already it looks very nice.

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Looks like you're going to have an amazing backyard and pool. Already it looks very nice.

Thanks! We're looking forward to having it usable very soon.

Waking the neighborhood at 6:30am. The wheel barrel brigade ramps up literally. The job you want here is the one being done by the guy in the orange jacket. They never left a drop on the lawn or patio. Impressive! The first loads go in and the deck starts to take shape. Troweling, smoothing and troweling some more. Before you know it you're close to a full deck. Next comes stamping in the pattern then the touch up work. By 12 noon it's a ghost town.

The day started out clear and sunny. Coffee in hand I was standing on the patio listening to the birds chirping and thinking what a fantastic clear quiet morning it was. For some reason I keep hearing Rod Stewart singing a song over and over in my head. "The first cut is the deepest" .........


Then all of a sudden it started to get a little hazy. I bolted into the house and closed all the windows. This is going to get ugly.